Older than NBA starting five? Gophers veteran lineup proves to be up to the task in limiting mistakes

GOPHERS MEN'S HOOPS VS. TEXAS A&M-CORPUS CHRISTI

FULLER'S FOUR THINGS TO WATCH:

Veteran savvy

The Gophers understood entering the season they were not going to be able to overpower opponents with their athleticism, size, or depth, but they knew they had a clear advantage in one particular area: experience.

First-year coach Ben Johnson's rebuilt team consists of four senior guards, a third-year wing, and fifth-year and sixth-year forwards, basically making up the seven-man rotation.

When it comes to overall team experience, the Gophers rank 19th in the country and second in the Big Ten averaging 2.62 years, according to KenPom.com. In comparison, the Michigan Wolverines, who lost to Minnesota 75-65 in Ann Arbor on Saturday, rank 294^th nationally with 1.47 years of experience.

That being said the age of the players who actually see the floor really tell the story.

Johnson's seven-man rotation of Payton Willis, Luke Loewe, E.J. Stephens, Jamison Battle, Eric Curry, Sean Sutherlin, and Charlie Daniels combine for an average age of 22.4 years.

That's actually older than the Timberwolves' starting five during the 2019-20 season (22.2 years).

The Gophers' seven-man rotation has combined to play 587 games, including 308 starts going into Tuesday's game against Texas A&M Corpus Christi.

How does that translate to the court? The biggest areas are decision making and basketball IQ, which means fewer mistakes. So far, the Gophers are tied for fewest turnovers per game (8.3) in the nation, including just 11 turnovers in the last three games.

"Our backcourt is super experienced," Willis said. "Eric handles the ball a lot. He and [fellow big man] Charlie Daniels as well. They're great with their decision making. Just staying cool and paying attention to scout how teams are going to guard us. Taking care of the basketball is something we take pride in."

Curry added: "With this team our margin of error is very low. We take pride in that and we're already underdogs in the game. So we have to limit every situation possible that would cause us to lose the game."

Three and D

Last season, the Gophers shot a program-low 28.4% from three-point range, but they've made a jump to 34.7% this season through nine games. They're even better at three-point defense, holding opponents to 25.3% shooting, which ranks eighth in Division I.

In Saturday's upset, the Wolverines were held to 3-for-18 shooting from beyond the arc, a significant drop off from their 15-for-32 performance from long distance in a 102-67 win at Nebraska.

The Gophers shot just 6-for-18 against Michigan from three, but they hit four of them in the second half. They also were scorching from inside the arc going 12-for-15 in the second half.

Don't expect Texas A&M-Corpus Christi to be lighting the Barn on fire from deep. The Islanders rank 336^th nationally in three-point shooting percentage (26.7) this season.

Bench opportunities?

In the first half of the Dec. 5 win at Mississippi State, Johnson was forced to go deeper into his bench than he had all season early in the game with foul trouble and health issues.

Senior guard Sean Sutherlin, the team's sixth-man, was out with a knee injury and senior forward Danny Ogele missed the trip with a non-COVID related illness.

So the Gophers played freshman guard Abdoulaye Thiam (3.6 minutes per game) and walk-on sophomore forward Will Ramberg (2.6 minutes) in meaningful minutes on the road against the Bulldogs.

Sutherlin is back, but Johnson could be dealing with foul trouble or other issues down the road that shorten a rotation that really can't get any shorter.

Minnesota ranks last among all 358 Division I team in bench minutes percentage (14.0), per Kenpom.com.

Starters Willis (36.0), Loewe (34.3), Stephens (34.9), Battle (38.3), and Curry (29.2) are all among the Big Ten leaders in minutes played this season. Battle leads the entire conference through Monday's games. Willis, Loewe, Stephens, and Battle accounted for 71 of the team's 75 points against Michigan.

Sutherlin and Daniels, among the six seniors in the rotation, average a combined 30 minutes off the bench. But Daniels has played double digit minutes just once in the last five games. The Gophers could benefit from further developing 6-11 freshman Treyton Thompson, who has played in only three games.

Free throw factor

The Gophers are second to last in the Big Ten and 269^th nationally in free throws made per game (10.1) this season.

It helped that several of Minnesota's opponents have averaged even fewer free throws made: Princeton (9.1), Jacksonville (9.3), UMKC (8.5).

So what happens when Minnesota faces an opponent that is better at drawing fouls? The Gophers barely escaped 54-53 at Pittsburgh after going 3-for-5 from the foul line, the fewest free throws in a game since the 2014-15 season.

They matched Mississippi State at the charity stripe as they both shot 11-for-13, but all of Minnesota's free throws came in the second half. Michigan State shot 15-for-19 from the foul line and the Gophers were only 7-for-9. But they outscored Michigan 11-10 in free throws in Saturday's win, which included going 7-for-8 in the last 1:12 of the game.

GAME INFO

Time: 7 p.m. CT, Tuesday. Where: Williams Arena. Line: Gophers 15-point favorite. Series: Minnesota leads the series 1-0 after the 65-44 win in 2013-14. TV: Big Ten Network. Online/Live video: BTN-Plus. Radio: 100.3 KFAN

PROJECTED STARTERS

MINNESOTA GOPHERS (8-1)

Pos.-Player Ht. Yr. PPG

G – Payton Willis 6-4 195 Sr. 16.4

G – E.J. Stephens 6-3 190 Sr. 10.9

G – Luke Loewe 6-4 190 Sr. 7.6

F – Jamison Battle 6-7 225 So. 18.8

F – Eric Curry 6-9 245 Sr. 8.1

Key reserves– Sean Sutherlin, G/F, 6-5, Sr., 8.1 ppg; Charlie Daniels, C/F, 6-9, Sr., 1.4 ppg.

Coach: Ben Johnson 8-1 (1st season)

Notable: Sutherlin returned from missing one game with a knee injury to play in last week's Big Ten opening 75-67 loss against Michigan State. Sutherlin has been an offensive spark off the bench this year. His best performance was leading the Gophers with 19 points on 7-for-7 shooting from the field and seven rebounds in the Nov. 19 win against Purdue Fort Wayne. The New Brighton, Minn., native scored the most points (44) combined in consecutive games off the bench since former Gophers guard Isaiah Washington during the 2017-18 season … Junior forwards Parker Fox (Northern State transfer) and Isaiah Ihnen are sidelined indefinitely after offseason knee surgery. Fox, who tore his ACL and MCL in late March, could possibly be cleared to play by January. But it still appears that both Fox and Ihnen will sit out this season.

Texas A&M Corpus Christi (9-1)

Pos.-Player Ht. Yr. PPG

G – Jalen Jackson 5-11 Jr. 8.1

G – Myles Smith 6-0 Sr. 9.3

G – Simeon Fryer 6-5 Sr. 9.9

F – Isaac Mushila 6-5 Jr. 15.3

F – De'Lazarus Keys 6-8 Sr. 8.0

Reserves – Trevian Tenniyson, G, 6-4, Jr., 10.6 ppg; Tyrese Nickelson, G, 6-2, Jr., 3.3 ppg; Terrion Murdix, G, 6-1, Jr., 6.3 ppg; Stephen Faramade, C, 6-9, So., 5.0 ppg.

Coach: Steve Lutz 9-1 (1st season)

Notable: The Islanders enter Tuesday on an eight-game winning streak since falling 86-65 at Texas A&M on Nov. 14. They improved to 3-1 on the road by forcing 24 turnovers and scoring 52 second-half points in an 87-73 win at Nebraska Omaha on Saturday. Texas A&M CC forward Isaac Mushila leads them with 15.3 points and 9.1 rebounds per game. The 6-5 junior from Congo had just two points vs. Omaha. But Mushila has three 20-point, 10-rebound games this season, including 27 points and 14 rebounds vs. Rio Grande Valley last week.

Fuller's score prediction (Picks record 6-3): Gophers 80, Corpus Christi 67.